Newly disclosed evidence revealed an apparent conflict of interest for Biden adviser Anita Dunn, when she consulted for an Illinois politician facing #MeToo related allegations in 2018.
, Hampton alleged that her report of harassment was initially ignored or minimized. Then, she said, came retaliation in the form of blacklisting her from jobs on other political campaigns. She filed her lawsuit against multiple campaign committees associated with Madigan, including Friends of Madigan.
Though Madigan was never personally accused of sexual harassment, after Hampton went public, more women raisedof inappropriate workplace behavior by other men who worked for Madigan, and said that their concerns were largely ignored. Madigan denied wrongdoing. Behind the scenes, according to emails later released at the perjury trial of Madigan's longtime chief of staff, Timothy Mapes, Madigan's allies worried that the scandal could loosen his grip on power. "If we want to protect and save MJM [Michael J. Madigan] we cannot play punchy bags above the belt. It is time to be offensive," wrote Michael McClain, a lobbyist widely described as a Madigan""In June [2018], it became clear that 'we' did not know how to handle this problem nor did we have a 'plan' to be assertive," McClain again"We landed on SKDKnickerbocker. [T]he lead is Anita Dunn. She met with us and the Speaker and laid out a plan," McClain wrote to Mapes."The S liked it and he hired her." that Friends of Madigan paid SKDK $37,500 for"media consulting" on Aug. 30, 2018, though those records were not disclosed until that October. A few weeks after that payment, as part of the plan apparently recommended by Dunn and SKDK, an op-ed by Madigan appeared in the, in which Madigan said he was taking on workplace harassment in the Illinois state Capitol. "I have made it a personal mission to take this issue head-on and correct past mistakes," he wrote in the op-ed."I wish I would have done so sooner." In response to NPR's questions about SKDK's work for Madigan at the time, SKDK's initial statement said,"As a matter of firm policy, we do not help sexual harassment abusers. We work for survivors and for systemic change to combat harassment-filled workplaces. In this case, Anita agreed to help Speaker Madigan take accountability in a very public way so he could start to fix his workplace."To help manage media requests, Hampton turned to Joanna Klonsky, a Chicago-based political consultant. Klonsky also helped Hampton connect with Time's Up and one of its founders, Tina Tchen, and shared information about the case with SKDK beginning around August 2018. Hampton and Klonsky said they didn't think at the time to ask SKDK or Time's Up if they had a conflict of interest in the Madigan case. "It never occurred to me," said Klonsky."It would be unthinkable for them to have been working for the other side of this." Shelly Kulwin, one of Hampton's attorneys on the lawsuit, also told NPR he"had no indication that they were working for Madigan." Hampton said Time's Up ultimately provided her with approximately $60,000 to support her legal case, which she was obligated to repay if she received any money from a possible settlement. Time's Up also paid Klonsky to continue helping Hampton with public relations. Klonsky said getting the group's support,"was incredibly validating and made us feel like we've got backing and it's going to be a lot harder to mess with us when we've got something like Time's Up behind us." Over the course of 2019, Hampton and Klonsky said they provided regular updates about the case and legal developments to their contacts at Time's Up and SKDK. "There was never a point where they would have called me and asked me a question about Alaina's case that I would have declined to answer," Klonsky said,"because it never occurred to me that there would be any reason not to trust them wholeheartedly." Friends of Madigan continued to pay SKDK for"media consulting" through the end of September 2019. A review of campaign records show that Madigan's committee paid SKDK more than $200,000. NPR asked Madigan's attorneys whether they were aware of SKDK's connection to Hampton's case. They declined to comment. Former Madigan chief of staff Timothy Mapes said in an email,"Sorry I can't answer your questions as I wasn't involved in those discussions." Michael McClain did not respond to NPR's message seeking comment. In November 2019, Hampton announced that she was settling her lawsuit with Madigan's political committees. After repaying the loan from Time's Up, Hampton received $75,000. For their work on the case, Hampton's attorneys ultimately received more money from the settlement. Madigan's political committees did not admit wrongdoing, as is common in settlements in civil cases. Separately, Illinois' Legislative Inspector General
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